How to cook with pumpkin seeds

This fall, millions of pumpkins will be carved for Halloween or
seasonal decorations. Most people will dispose of the seeds and
strings they scrape out of the inside. That's a shame, say Nick
Kindelsperger and Joseph Hernandez of The Chicago
Tribune, as they discuss several uses for often overlooked pumpkin
seeds.

If you don't want to spend the time removing the white hulls,
which don't provide much flavor, you can usually find shelled
pumpkin seeds (pepitas) in most supermarkets. They add crunch, and
while raw seeds "have a subtle, grassy flavor", once you
toast them, the taste takes on nutty overtones. Pumpkins seeds work
in both sweet and savory dishes.

Kindelsperger and Hernandez note that the in Mexican
state of Yucatan, pumpkin seeds are an integral part of the local
cuisine. One of the most common dishes there is sikil
p'aak, a dip made from pumpkins seeds, tomatoes and chilies.
The EYB Library contains five online recipes for sikil p'ak, including
the one from Saveur Magazine pictured above. Here are a
few more pumpkin seed recipes to get you started:

1 Comment

I love the combination of pepitas and almonds on my salads. Started as money saving when the price of pine nuts skyrocketed, but now I like them just as well. Costco has a pumpkin seed granola that is my favorite with homemade yogurt and blueberries.